Electrostatic coating system and method
OwnerOsamu Yoshida, Yoshiji Yokomizoinventors
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Abstract
A coating apparatus can include a spray applicator configured to discharge a coating material toward a surface of a workpiece, wherein the spray applicator includes an air shaping orifice, and wherein the spray applicator is configured to generate an electric field between the spray applicator and the workpiece, and a positioning system configured to adjust a position of the spray applicator relative to the surface of the workpiece. It can further include a control system configured to regulate operation of the spray applicator and/or the positioning system to: maintain the spray applicator within a coating distance, maintain a flow rate of shaping air through the air shaping orifice, and maintain an electrical potential of the electric field.
Claims5
A method for applying a coating material to a workpiece, comprising:
- positioning a spray applicator adjacent to the workpiece, such that a distance from a rotary atomizer of the spray applicator to the workpiece is between 20 millimeters (mm) and 100 mm;
- generating an electric field between the spray applicator and the workpiece at an electrical potential between 30 kilovolts (kV) and 40 kV;
- discharging a flow of shaping air via an air shaping orifice of the spray applicator at a flow rate between 150 normal liters per minute (Nl/min) and 300 Nl/min;
- and
- discharging the coating material via the rotary atomizer to apply the coating material to the workpiece;
- and
- maintaining the distance from the rotary atomizer to the workpiece between 20 mm and 100 mm while discharging the coating material, wherein maintaining the distance from the rotary atomizer to the workpiece between 20 mm and 100 mm while discharging the coating material comprises adjusting operation of a positioning system coupled to the spray applicator based on feedback from a first sensor indicative of a value of the distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.